Zach Anderson
Feb 02, 2026 15:25
Polygon (MATIC) Labs acquires Coinme, a licensed money services business with $1B+ in transactions, to integrate fiat on/off-ramps into its Open Money Stack infrastructure.
Polygon (MATIC) Labs is acquiring Coinme, one of the largest crypto-fiat exchange infrastructures in the United States, to solve what the company calls the “last mile” problem plaguing stablecoin payments. The deal brings a licensed money services business operating across 48 U.S. states directly into Polygon’s Open Money Stack—a unified payments infrastructure designed to move money between traditional finance and blockchain settlement.
Coinme has processed more than $1 billion in transactions and serves over one million users. The company holds money transmitter licenses nationwide and was the second U.S. company after Coinbase to obtain such licenses, having launched the country’s first licensed Bitcoin ATMs nearly a decade ago.
Why the Last Mile Matters
Stablecoins settle in seconds. Getting dollars into and out of them? That’s where things break down.
For institutions eyeing stablecoin payments, the friction isn’t onchain—it’s everything surrounding it. Fragmented banking rails, inconsistent card network integrations, varying compliance requirements across jurisdictions. Most enterprise stablecoin projects stall in pilot mode because connecting blockchain settlement to real-world money movement requires navigating a maze of regulatory and technical hurdles.
Coinme’s infrastructure handles the messy parts: bank account connections, debit card processing, and even physical cash locations. All built on a compliance-first foundation with KYC and AML baked in from day one.
What Polygon Is Building
The Open Money Stack aims to bundle regulated access, wallets, compliance, and blockchain rails into a single API. With Coinme integrated, the pitch to institutions becomes straightforward: move money from bank accounts into stablecoins, settle instantly onchain, and return funds to traditional accounts—all through one integration.
This isn’t just about making crypto easier to buy. The target customers are fintechs, banks, and payment providers who want stablecoins as core infrastructure, not a novelty feature. Coinme’s enterprise-ready APIs already support licensed wallets and programmatic on/off-ramps built for this exact use case.
Timing and Market Context
The acquisition comes as digital payment infrastructure continues expanding globally. Africa’s consumer economy has seen rising crypto-powered payment adoption, according to recent industry analysis. Meanwhile, traditional finance players are deepening crypto exposure—CME Group announced plans in mid-January to expand its crypto derivatives suite with Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar futures.
The on-ramp and off-ramp space remains critical for mainstream adoption. These services bridge traditional finance and crypto, but off-ramps in particular face rigorous scrutiny due to deeper banking system integration requirements. Coinme’s existing licenses and compliance infrastructure represent years of regulatory groundwork that would be difficult and expensive to replicate.
What’s Next
Polygon says early access to the Open Money Stack is now open, with Coinme already operating at scale. The combined infrastructure targets a specific gap: institutions that want to run stablecoins as production payments systems rather than experimental pilots.
Whether enterprises actually adopt this remains the open question. But with $1 billion in proven transaction volume and licenses across nearly every U.S. state, Coinme brings something most crypto payment projects lack—a working last mile.
Image source: Shutterstock
Source: https://blockchain.news/news/polygon-labs-acquires-coinme-stablecoin-payment-infrastructure
